International Draft - who won't come?

That was a really ignorant thing to say, especially since there is a good chance you have never even been to St. Louis.



Why did Pau Gasol leave Spain to play in Memphis?

 

please ignore if someone else has already pointed this out, but:

in the crawl at the bottom of the screen during yesterday's skysports broadcast it noted that the english fa is planning to start a new superleague (including central contracts) for the women. it occured to me that they were intent on keeping smith and any and all young up and comers out of the clutches of the wps.

i didn't hear anything else about it, but i just googled and found this.

http://www.england-mad.co.uk/news/loadroll.asp?cid=EDY2&id=408992

 

I think many players from overseas may not be sold on this league till maybe after a year or two of existence. They know fully well what happened to the WUSA and leaving an established team, with sure pay, obviously family loved ones, etc. in Europe to come to a league that let's be frank, has a lot of promise but lots of challenges, for a half years pay may be something that they may not want to do. Some of these girls may also have other jobs with their respective teams in Europe like being a director of something or other. They can also live at home and earn money by playing soccer.

Players from Latin America/Brazil/Canada may be more inclined to come to the WPS. Players from Europe who may be willing to come over will be those who might just want to try something new in life like living in the USA for a while. Also national pride may have something to do with it. For example, Kelly Smith has already played in the US. Been there done that. She may see her calling more as getting women's soccer more established in her home country of England.

 

My guess would be that he wanted to play in the world's best basketball league and make more money than he makes in Spain...

 

I think you have to assume that DiCicco has already made contact with the players he wanted prior to the draft and probably has a pretty good idea of their interest in playing in WPS and what it will take to sign them. Read his quote again.

The last part of that last sentence is significant.

 

So, they are trying to rebuild Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC over there (Solo, Schelin, Stensland)? Maybe not the most successful model.

And anyway, how did she suddenly pop up? Is it a free for all now? After the international draft you can just claim you discovered who-ever and call dibs on her?

Anyhow, great player. A true asset to any team.

 

Clearly these teams have chosen players that they believe they can sign, otherwise some team would have made an audacious attempt to sign Birgit Prinz (and half the German team for that matter), whom we all know isn't coming.

 

I surprise myself by being well and truly ********ing tired of this already. It all seems more like a spectacular PR exercise than a serious attempt to start a well functioning league.

 

I remember reading an article some months back where Kelly Smith, herself, said she was staying in England and wasn't going to be coming to WPS. I'm wondering why I can't find Rachel Yankey being mentioned in the draft news.

 

Yes, have been to St. Louis. But sorry I offended you. It was more about France than about--oh, never mind. Clank clank clank went the trolley!

 

I so agree. They should have called it their wish list.

 

kolabear, I have inside info on Kelly, there are personal reasons why she will not come to the US. the only thing I can say is that it would take an offer that WPS cannot afford to make to Bring her her again.. And becasue she is under contract, there is a transfer fee that the club will enforce.

For the WPS to get some of the players on their international Draft, the money they would have to spend will blow the budget of the entire league

there is a better chance of Mia Hamm playing in the WPS than Marta and Kelly Smith... If I am proven wrong, I give the league three years untill folding because they could not contain the costs... and the team that fooishly spends the most will win all the games

 

That's why I think this "international draft" was really just a chance to grab a few low level internationals and to connect the WPS name to some famous players like Marta and Kelly Smith.

 

And it's a horrible PR move. By holding a "draft" fans are expecting these players to be on the field. The average fan has no idea about transfer fees, contracts, etc. To sell a league that can't deliver the players it drafts will kill WPS before it even starts. Very disingenuous.

 

I agree. That's why the more I've learned about the international allocation, particularly the "big names" and the media reports that followed all saying WPS had drafted these international players the more concerned I am. It makes WPS seem like they're lying for the exposure when players like Smith and Marta don't come. That or at the very least if we believe their noble intentions, that WPS can't get it done when it comes to attracting these internationals. And with the money players like Marta and Smith are going to demand, perhaps that's the best case scenario as someone pointed out earlier. The alternative could be the overwhelming of the WPS financials, not unlike WUSA.

 

I don't understand the reasoning behind these last few posts.

The intl' draft is simply a wish list of the WPS. It's an internal process whereby the teams are assigned "rights to draft" or "rights to negotiate" with these players. There is no guarantee that they can sign the players but they have to start the process somewhere. This is the 1st step.

How else do you think they should start?

 

Part of the problem is that it was sold as another "allocation" like the allocation (which was an actual draft) of the US Olympic players. Problem is as we all know it's not. However that was never made clear by WPS. The international allocation has largely been sold as a draft of these players, most of which are just that, a wish list that will never happen.

I'd rather they'd have started the process by actually drafting players who had indicated they'd like to play for the league and had some previous contact with WPS. From what we're hearing out of most of the internationals that were "allocated" on the wish list, they've never spoken to WPS before. And as we've discovered most of the big names have little interest in WPS.

 

I understand your point, but I think the USWNT was clearly an allocation, and the International draft was just that.

Except for the NFL, most drafts are nothing more than having player rights for the league assigned to them. The NBA and NHL, and MLS for that matter, consistently draft players, especially from overseas, that may or may not come to North America to play, and many never come.

If anyone took the time the read the whole WPS press release I do not know how they could have made it any clearer that all that was at stake was the right to begin negotiations with these players and that it would be done in accordance with FIFA transfer rules.

 

Problem is alot of press outlets chose to gloss over the press release and did nothing to make it clear it was only a wish list.

And as for teams in other sports drafting wish lists like that (especially in what amounts to an expansion draft) I'd love to see examples because I don't think that's true.

 

When I have time I'll send you some links and post a summary, but you only need to look at this year's NBA draft for examples, there are doubts about 4-5 of the Eurpean players coming over, and even more examples in the NHL. There have also been a number of players who were drafted by both the NFL and MLB and had to choose between them. There are a few players still hanging from the MLS draft, one just signed with Celtic, GK who Chicago drafted whose name escapes me right now?

I am hurt you think I would post an untruth

 

True but none of those drafts were trying to create a league either. They're all in established leagues.